Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 15, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Brian Cole 6977044 focus sunday free Winnipeg a q october 1995 mj7 Duguid gets nod As Best mayoral candidate prudent policy is key to Job those who would be mayor and a number who clearly wont were on display at the town Hall at the Walker theatre this none were totally uninteresting though interest in one or two requires a highly cultivated taste for the bizarre but three Merit close Susan Thompson shares with Peter Kaufmann substantially the same Swath of the ideological spectrum both Are Busi both Are both espouse smaller her arrival out of nowhere three years ago reflected a shrewd assessment on her part of a changing Public mood with respect to civic giving Thompson her she not Only sensed a Public but helped give expression to two things have been Central to Thomp sons political one was her Pri Mary Promise on which she was firm and specific Zero increase in taxes with no service a feat which was to be achieved through efficiency audits to which All references disappeared within months of her in three years she achieved neither a tax freeze nor the maintenance of but now argues that the results reflected com promises dictated by what the Public really woolly her other distinguishing characteristic has been the confusingly woolly expression of general objectives so that again and again it fell to the Council or the civic administration to Deal with the substantive development of Many things for which she subsequently claimed credit were achieved by others having to work around her the reality is that she voted against Many of the decisions which she now defends As necessary at the Thompson demonstrated considerable improvement Over her performance in the same forum in that she had actually been mayor for the three intervening what was striking was that she still sounded As though she was seeking office for the first time she now knew her but her answers were not typically delivered with Assurance or with conviction that suggested she could explain them clearly if called upon to do she still has difficulty getting to the the Clear and the and slips easily into Squishy Over the sensation is a bit like being Smoth ered in Candy Peter Kauf Manns Agenda is similar to William Neville Susan Thompsons but Kaufmann is More direct his language is punchy and aggressively confident in the Man Ner of the True whether or not one agrees with what he is there is Little mistaking or doubting what that All of Winnipeg on his Stem from the City being inhospitable to this rather simplistic analysis which ignores National and International proximity to natural resources and much else lends itself to rather simplistic solutions As with his Promise to eliminate the business tax which would presumably result in increased property the is of quite a differ ent sort at one moment he sounds persuasive and but in the next one wonders does he understand the Issue he is discussing has he thought through the implications of what he is saying does he believe that the mayor really has the Power or the authority to effect the draconian measures he is proposing Tun Nel vision seems to be operating Here As Lindor Reynolds recent column on Kauf Mann and food Banks Kauf Mann appears capable of holding and expressing Strong views without necessarily being troubled by much knowledge of the no one can say that Kauf Manns positions Are not Clear in they Are in fact quite the simple directness of Kauf Manns coupled with his pop conjure up notions of a municipal Ralph Kaufmann is Thompson without frills Many at the Walker loved and voters who want their retrench ment unadulterated might Well prefer him to Terry dug ids approach is less woolly than Thompsons and less Sla Sandburn than Duguid does not appear As one comfortable with the Quick fix and when he came close to proposing one his suggestion to tax exurban communities to pay their share of the Ameni ties Winnipeg provides them one had the feeling that the problem was More clearly focused than was the remedy and at the this proposal was Down Kaufmann from Thompson and Duguid Are the three to watch in mayoral graded to the status of one of several yet there it a significant number of people out there who Are beguiled by the notion of easy this week Manitoba copped the distinction of being the province on a per capita the country highest incidence of Telephone fraud that the most who being phoned and told they have won some Are immediately induced to Send off Money to the it suggests a High gullibility quo compared to Thompsons relent Lessly cheerful boosterism and Kaufmannn Plain folks Terry Duguid is simply it is difficult to be a passionate moderate Duguid is neither flamboyant nor his greater problem May be that he seems an essentially reasonable Man in what in Many an unreasonable he offers a Quick grasp of issues and a demonstrated capacity to build working coalitions on where policy must be decided if it is to be decided at All outside the he also appeals to a exemplified most recently by Bill which says that civic leadership entails a responsibility to govern in More than just the interests of the most comfortable members of the in present such inclusive notions of social responsibility have less immediate and automatic Appeal than they once some of those who now support the Thompsons and the Kaufmannn were people earlier supported Bill Norrie and those of his colleagues with whom on Many he made common together they represented a wide Cross Section of and included a number of councillors like Eric Ste Fanson and Jim Ernst who now occupy seats of Power on times and circumstances have it is appropriate to recognize that in the last five years there has been a shift in Public opinion if not always easy to is nonetheless real and it is also appropriate to observe that some politicians have shifted either out of conviction or in deference to Public opinion Stefanson and for though conservative May be More conservative but it is also through the difficult process of to retain a sense of Many of the things done by councils of the 70s and 80s reflected a conviction that a municipal government had a part to play in trying to improve the Quality of its common life that meant a municipal Agenda that went beyond the interests of any single group or class the Core area in its Many illustrates the in some cases the end of such activity fell Short of what the rhetoric no was most human Enterprise being More Public indebtedness and growing Middle class anger with reoriented Public in these processes of what we lose sight of at our peril Are the imperatives whether social or religious that assert our responsibility for the whole of the apparently this this is not a self evident with the Pursuit of retrenchment and restructuring in Many there Are abundant signs that some burdens will fall and be borne there is in a Good Deal of mean spirited Ness now abroad and it would be ruinous to see that unleashed and Public office Calls out for people though necessarily committed to Are also committed to Pru Dent policy initiatives processes that do not rend the of the candidates on Terry in my comes closest to providing this William Neville is a Winnipeg his column appears every other letters to the editor Graffiti courts can work i understand that you commented on my announcement about the Pilot project Community court system and i wanted to clarify some Points that were raised in Media my proposal does not deny the alleged offender the right to a rather it is similar to the current system for minor traffic right if a person commits one of a number of traffic the person has the right to appear before a magistrate and plead guilty and receive a which is usually within a defined or other penalty which May include among other things the requirement to take defensive Dri ving the person May decide to plead not guilty and have a in these circumstances the Range of penalties which a judge May Levy Are usually one advantage of hav ing a magistrate Deal with these minor traffic offences is that it relieves the backlog from the courts and eliminates a great Deal of Down time and overtime for police my Community court system would work in a similar fashion for Quality of life which i believe Are those offences which affect our Quality of life in win i propose that we should Start with Graffiti and minor acts of vandalism and extend the list Only after we have had an Opportunity to Monitor the Progress of the an accused would be brought before a magistrate and would have the right to either plead or request a if the person pleads guilty he or she would be required to perform Community which 1 believe should be a minimum of 50 if it is for the person should be required to clean the mess he or she caused or another persons if it is for Vandal that persons Community ser vice should relate to repairing damage to 4lf the person wish Coj to either see How to reach us the free press welcomes letters from letters must be signed and should include a clearly printed address and Telephone names will be published but not All letters May be edited for style and Short letters Are less Likely to be please address letters to letters to the Winnipeg free 1355 Mountain Winnipeg r2x letters can be sent to our fax number letters May be submitted through the internet at letters letters sent via the internet obviously cannot be but must include Home address and Telephone a lawyer or plead not the Normal court process would be Fol in this a person who pleads guilty could be handled immediately and the penalty would have a direct relationship to their offenders who perform the Community service would not have a record for the first something similar to this is already underway in firs time shoplifters can now take part in a new program offered by the salvation army called positive accused people who successfully Complete the 12ses 11week course receive a recommendation for a stay of the Crown accepts the recommendations and in fact assists the accused in the registration in the Susan Thompson mayor of Winnipeg Airport plan Pierin Shesky surely we have had enough of Duguid the other Day mayoral candidate Terry Duguid was telling us How Winnipeg Drivers have come under fire for their less than courteous he could get More police officers on the streets surely he does it believe that replacing consta Bles with either commission Aires or civilians comes now he proposes to contribute million to an Industrial Park at the a City a billion dollars in debt and we Haven Learned yet that we have to control our debt or that there is no such thing As a free lunch except at a food which is where we will All be if this kind of thinking is allowed to continue at City this sounds like another there has been no commitment to the concept for making Winnipeg an air freight Centre so this Promise is empty and designed to once again buy support with fan not Promise to reduce taxes and control debt then we might consider supporting Terry Frank Price Winnipeg tax plan a tax grab Terry Duguid wants every one to pay their fair this is typical another novel idea for Windfall Revenue generation to maintain big time just give City Council More Money to blow and that exactly what do with we Are one of the heaviest taxed cities in North America and we have paid More than our fair How Many More win nip Eggers Are you and your cohorts going to drive outside the perimeter before you see the dont tax them More get your spend ing under control and tax us Craig Winnipeg tax question cuts both ways As a Rural Over 50 per cent of the Money we spend on the Gas for our cars goes to our provincial tax dollars Are used to supplement the Cost of Many Winnipeg buildings and fur anyone from outside of Winnipeg who takes lessons at City swimming pools pays considerably More than a Winnipeg we do pay slightly lower taxes than we would on a similar House in we also provide our own sewer and we do not have garbage pickup or natural Gas and our fire department is we do have libraries and skating but our councillors dont stockpile real estate or support the losses of professional perhaps those of us outside of Winnipeg should stage a major Boycott of Winnipeg Gas sporting and entertainment so that Terry Duguid can be educated in just How much the Rural population con tributes to the Winnipeg Winnipeg Bird watch salespersons and suppliers regularly use the roads that our tax dollars sup we Welcome their input to our haml1n Warren no cheers for this Leader i have always respected Fred Cleverley opinion on various but i am astounded by his recent in Praise of a cheer Leader free extolling the Virtues of mayor Susan where has Fred Cleverley been living for the last three years on another planet How can anyone ignore the broken promises and the scandalous waste of taxpayers Money since 1993 cheerleader Susan and most of our City councillors fell for the biggest con Job we have Ever seen in after squandering million on the jets and Arena fiasco this they Are suddenly afraid to utter the word in they want us to forget that they were manipulated by the gang and intimidated by a Small but noisy mob of hockey most of them juveniles who do not even vote or pay the mayor and City Council refused to kill the Rotten jets Deal this when the team could have been a decision that will Cost the taxpayers of Winnipeg at least million by next during the Arena Only three councillors had the courage to stand up for the silent despite threats and we appreciate what they and they deserve to remain in most of the others turned out to be opportunists and and this is but kicking we have had enough of cheer Leader Susan and her lackeys at City we need a mayor and Council who will keep their promis listen to their constituents and respect the wishes of the Majori de neck Winnipeg driving Home a Point of View Winnipeg when driving would you please make a sincere Effort to signal to give plenty of time to leave room Between you and the car in dont pass and Cut in slow Down in residential streets you would not be tolerated any where else outside this in an angry and frustrated new citizen to Louise Macquire c Winnipeg ;